Review: Superman Lost #4

Superman:Lost #4 came out this week and I think the book was appropriately titled. Because I was frankly a little lost throughout the issue. I was so impressed with the first issue of this book. But since then, I think the book has lost momentum. 

Writer Christopher Priest has a good concept. Superman was missing for 20 years in space but to his friends on Earth is was about a day. Superman is troubled by this lost time, self-isolated and trying to re-adapt to life on Earth. That's solid.

We are learning through flashbacks what happened during that time away. But this issue throws us in so many times, so many flashbacks within flashbacks, that I kept needing to reread the book to see if I could figure out 'when' this was. Assuming I am right, it leads me to some difficult questions about what Superman is actually doing in one particular moment. 

Moreover, this issue again is a thinly veiled political commentary placed on an alien world which is using Earth town names. Thinly veiled. At least Priest here is pretty open-minded showing the folly in both sides of a debate when both sides should be trying to help each other.

As I have said before, the art by Carlo Pagulayan is really wonderful. From quiet moments to frustrated moments to battle scenes, he really brings a fine line and detail to the work that is beautiful. I would love to see his stuff on something street level at some point, like The Question or Azrael. The art definitely raises the grade here.

But when I am stuck on some moments and maybe even confused, it leaves me a bit dismayed. On to the book.

We start out with a deep flashback. This is the night Martha and Jonathan first gave Clark his Superman suit, presumably the first time they told him he was an alien (given their hushed conversation). 

The idea here is that Martha's suit is of extreme importance to Superman, a reminder of the lessons they taught him to do what is right for others. Unfortuntely, we learn that deeper in the issue so this sort of feels a bit out of place here on first read. 

The next scene shows an alien crawling up an ice world to find themselves on ... the Kent Farm?

The alien turns out the be Szhemi, the 'Jimmy' from 'Kansas', meaning that Superman somehow found his way back to that world. You might recall that last issue, Superman wondered if 'Victor', who he met on 'Kansas', was actually a good person.

But this is the conundrum. Superman had time to build a Kent farm on this world, craft clothes similar to his Smallville apparel, and even seemingly brew coffee. How long has he been on this world? Did he seek out Victor and confront him? Is he still trying to get back to Earth? He seems pretty comfortable here ... to comfortable. 

And without any true timeline marker, it is hard to know. Maybe he built this house in one day, the day before? But doubtful given that 'Jimmy' has heard legends of someone living here and doing good, that is Superman. So it feels like he has been there for a while but hasn't confronted the person he was worried about.

Definitely pulled me out of the story.

Superman tells 'Jimmy' that he hopped on comets to search for the survival pack that Victor gave him. The real reason behind that was to regain his mother's suit ... leaning back into that first scene. I like the sentiment but maybe that first scene should have been put in here so we could understand better why it was included.

We also learn that it took Superman 2 years to get back to 'Kansas'. When he met 'Jimmy', the alien was a child. So how long has he been stuck here?

A lot of pathos here by Pagulayan.

We don't hear why but it is clear something bad is happening in Jimmy's part of the world. And that leads Superman to confront Victor.

So it feels like Superman has been on this planet for years. Has he not confronted Victor before this? Has he not been 'patrolling' Jimmy's part of the world (called Newark)? Or has he just been hiding on this farm, like the Kingdom Come Superman who hid in his Fortress.

Without any better sense of the timeline or what Superman has been doing, I felt either confused or disappointed in Superman.

Great sense of action here by Pagulayan.

It turns out that the Contrectacio (the space pirates and scavengers from earlier issues) is basically scooping up raw materials from Newark - buildings, technology, materials - with little regard for the Newark people. 

They don't like Superman from their prior interaction. And they aren't even aware that there are people. They were hired by Victor's people to gather up all this stuff to clean up that part of the world. And they won't let Superman stop them.

How could Superman not know about this? 

It really seems off.

Of course, Superman heads back to confront Victor about this contract.

Victor's people have been cleaning up their side of the world, living underground in peace, and have decided to simply turn a blind eye to Newark. It is clear that Victor feels his people are superior, bringing up the bad decisions the Newark folk have made regarding things like climate change and even school lunches. School lunches? This whole world seems almost too Earth-like. 

It is easy to squint and think that the Newark folks are 'republicans' and Victor's people are 'democrats' ... maybe. 

But this is pretty cold by Victor. If the Newark folk won't listen to reason, let them suffer.

Both sides are wrong here. And it is going to get worse.

The sun is going to go nova.

The brilliant Victor people are going to go up in a nova just like the Newark people.

Nice wrinkle. Maybe if both sides worked together they would've seen this planetary threat.

Shouldn't Superman also notice that? I guess he is semi-depowered here. 

But maybe Superman should've been doing more than fake farming?

The Contrectacio offer to bring Superman back to Earth if he lets them go about their business but this Superman knows he needs to do the right thing for people in need (unless you are sitting on the fake Kent farmstead). He will stop them.

 They aren't going to let Superman stop their plundering. They know they have him outnumbered enough and he is depowered enough that they can defeat him.

And then a GL shows up.\

So I had a hard time unpacking this issue because of Superman wasting time (possibly) instead of saving the planet, saving the people, or trying to go to Earth. And without more info, it is hard to know how long he has been on this planet.

Great art though. 

Overall grade: C